The 2N43, along with the 2N44 and 2N45, were General Electric's first commercially produced alloy junction transistors. First produced in 1953, the 2N43 used a vacuum-sealed glass and metal package designed by Conrad Zierdt, a General Electric production engineer. This packaging, which abandoned the failure-prone epoxy and potting compounds of other early transistors, significantly lowered electrical variation between devices. A variant of this transistor, the 2N43A, was the first transistor to be qualified for use by the USAF.